SEPTEMBER by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Summary, Meaning & Analysis
September is an eight-line stanza where the month itself speaks in the first person, sharing the signs it brings: equal days and nights, wild autumn winds, migrating birds, red berries in the hedges, and the Hunter's Moon.
The poem
I bear the Scales, where hang in equipoise The night and day; and when unto my lips I put my trumpet, with its stress and noise Fly the white clouds like tattered sails of ships; The tree-tops lash the air with sounding whips; Southward the clamorous sea-fowl wing their flight; The hedges are all red with haws and hips, The Hunter's Moon reigns empress of the night.
September is an eight-line stanza where the month itself speaks in the first person, sharing the signs it brings: equal days and nights, wild autumn winds, migrating birds, red berries in the hedges, and the Hunter's Moon. Longfellow gives September a personality—like a Roman god blowing a trumpet to herald the change of season. It’s a quick, vibrant glimpse of early autumn arriving with noise and color.
Line-by-line
I bear the Scales, where hang in equipoise / The night and day…
Tone & mood
The tone is bold and assertive—September isn't just showing up; it's making a statement. There's a feeling of measured strength: the speaker acts like a herald or a deity, and the world reacts to its clarion call. Beneath the vibrancy, there's also a touch of sadness, as autumn inevitably brings the realization that summer has passed and darkness is creeping in.
Symbols & metaphors
- The Scales (Libra) — The zodiac sign Libra, which the sun enters in late September, is a symbol of balance — representing the equinox when day and night are equal in length.
- The trumpet — September's trumpet is the autumn wind. When the month "blows its horn," storms come in, clouds drift apart, and nature starts to awaken. It also reflects the classic image of a herald announcing the arrival of a new season.
- Tattered sails of ships — The white clouds pushed by the wind resemble torn sails, hinting at speed, chaos, and the sheer power of autumn storms. They also subtly bring to mind the sea, which is fitting for a New England poet.
- Haws and hips — The red berries of hawthorn (haws) and wild rose (hips) are a familiar sight in the English and American countryside each autumn — nature's final splash of color before winter leaves the hedges bare.
- The Hunter's Moon — The full moon after the Harvest Moon is traditionally a time when hunters track game at night during autumn. Here, it "reigns empress," indicating the moon's power as the nights start to outlast the days.
Historical context
Longfellow wrote this poem as part of a series called *The Poet's Calendar*, where each month speaks in the first person about its own character and natural signs. This project reflects the mid-nineteenth-century American trend of personifying nature using classical references—drawing on Roman mythology, the zodiac, and the pastoral tradition from English poets like Keats and Spenser. Longfellow published the full calendar in the 1880s, towards the end of his life, giving it a retrospective, encyclopedic feel, as if he were cataloguing the world he had experienced throughout his long life. "September" is one of the shorter pieces, yet it captures an impressive amount of sensory detail—sound, sight, and motion—within just eight lines, showcasing the technical skill that made Longfellow the most widely read American poet of his time.
FAQ
It's almost there, but it misses the mark. The poem is an **ottava rima** stanza — eight lines of iambic pentameter with an ABABABCC rhyme scheme. This is the same structure Keats used in *Isabella* and Byron in *Don Juan*. A Shakespearean sonnet has 14 lines, but this one only has eight, making it resemble the first half of a sonnet or a separate octave.
The Scales are **Libra**, the zodiac constellation that the sun enters around September 22nd — the autumnal equinox. Longfellow is giving September a human-like quality by representing it as the zodiac figure, and the scales symbolize this beautifully, as the equinox is the exact moment when day and night are in perfect balance.
**Haws** are the small red berries that grow on hawthorn trees, while **hips** refer to the red seed pods found on wild roses. Both of these ripen in September, painting the hedgerows a vivid red. They were commonly seen in the countryside of both England and New England, and Longfellow employs them as a quick and clear visual cue for the arrival of early autumn.
The **Hunter's Moon** is the full moon that comes after the Harvest Moon, which is the full moon nearest to the autumn equinox. It rises big and bright shortly after sunset, providing hunters with ample light to track and chase game into the evening. Referring to it as the "empress of the night" captures its commanding presence as the nights become longer.
The entire *Poet's Calendar* sequence employs **prosopopoeia**—a technique that gives a voice to the voiceless. This classic rhetorical device allows Longfellow to imbue each month with its own unique personality instead of merely describing them. September comes across as loud and powerful, while the other months carry quieter or more melancholic tones.
The trumpet is the **autumn wind**. When September "brings its trumpet" to its lips, it unleashes a storm: clouds scatter, treetops sway wildly, and seabirds head south for the winter. This imagery is also steeped in tradition—heralds and gods use trumpets to signal arrivals and transformations. September is making it clear that it’s a force to be reckoned with.
It sits right in between. The energy is exhilarating—there's genuine excitement in the storm imagery and the blazing red berries. However, autumn in poetry often reminds us that summer has ended and winter is on the way. The Hunter's Moon "reigning" at the end shifts the balance a bit toward melancholy: the nights are now in control.